What a fun time we had singing for the residents, family and guests of the Angel’s Touch Assisted Living center! This facility is family-run in our local community, serving approximately 15 full time residents at any given time. The owner and operator, Mr. Mark Wah, invited us to provide the musical entertainment at their Family Fun Day. In the back yard area under tall trees and in the shade of pop-up canopies, more than fifty people from infant to octogenarian gathered to celebrate Father’s Day and families.
Mr. Wah had asked us in advance to make sure that we sang “the old songs” for the residents, who hoped to hear music from their younger days. While our regular set list does include a very wide variety of music from the last century or so, we definitely wanted to please the audience as much as possible. So in preparation, we pulled out some oldies but goodies and gave them a go: “Wait ‘Til the Sun Shines Nellie”, “Ain’t She Sweet”, “My Wild Irish Rose” and a few other similar selections were added to our regular repertoire. The audience did appreciate the attention to their tastes, and we received a warm response from them.
After our performance, we had an opportunity to chat with some of the members of the audience. We discovered that it is a small world after all in the barbershop community. Mr. Wah had gone to school in the Baltimore area and had been a student of the late Fred King, legendary Barbershop champion, director, teacher and arranger. Also, we learned that one of the center’s residents had been a member of Patapsco Valley chapter of BHS, and it turned out we had a few friends in common.
These are the kinds of days that make us glad to be part of this hobby. Getting out into the community, sharing music with audiences of all types, making friends and having good times – this is what it’s all about! Thank you, Angel’s Touch Assisted Living Center, for inviting us!